With the price of iphones dropping to less than $100 and iphone3gs under $200, we were considering trying one out since we're already with AT&T (Cingular). We've never played with one, but wanted to know if anyone has any experience with them, esp. for geocaching. We know the 3Gs say they have GPS functionality, but can they be used like a traditional handhelds? And if the gc.com gets along with them fine. The closest either of our machines have come is the WAP system my little Nokia phone uses for gc.com. Which sometimes works in a pinch, but isn't all the useful.

I am in New Hampshire for a family reunion and my unclie-in-law loaded a geocaching app onto his phone. It looked pretty cool because it pulls all the information for a particular cache right from the internet. The only downside was that as we went hiking, he did not have access to a wireless network and then he hit a dead zone for what ever service he was using. Once he did that, his GPS stopped working! Sounds like it is only good more urban areas.

I believe the iPhone 3G and 3Gs will work as a GPS without the need for Cell towers. From what I've read they use whatever is quickest to respond initially for location purposes. Using an application that zeros in on the GPS chip such as iGeocacher (great app BTY!) allows you to use your iPhone in the boonies (I haven't tested it thoroughly yet as I'm used to getting my DNF's with my Garmin 60csx). I use the app strictly for the paperless caching. The next time I'm in a dead zone (all too frequently with AT&T), I'll give it a shot.

iamanomad wrote:I believe the iPhone 3G and 3Gs will work as a GPS without the need for Cell towers. From what I've read they use whatever is quickest to respond initially for location purposes. Using an application that zeros in on the GPS chip such as iGeocacher (great app BTY!) allows you to use your iPhone in the boonies (I haven't tested it thoroughly yet as I'm used to getting my DNF's with my Garmin 60csx). I use the app strictly for the paperless caching. The next time I'm in a dead zone (all too frequently with AT&T), I'll give it a shot.

Maybe... Maybe not.

Cell phone use the A-GPS system which can depend on cellular reception to accomplish server side computations, even if the phone has a good sat signal reception. The iPhone however as you said seems to function in GPS only mode also. It will just take a LOT longer to get a location.

You test may also not work, as without a cell tower signal, you will not be able to get the maps. Also some applications time out if they can not get a location fast enough. If you can find an application that shows the lat and long, then will help you prove that a cell connection is not absolutely required for the iPhone.

A-GPS was mandated by the FCC to provide a location for "911" services. To assist in triangulation, the cell towers are used to approximate the location before the cell phone can get sat signals. The cell towers also have data to account for anomalies, and process data from the phone, then return corrections accordingly. The server also provides WAAS service, like better quality GPS units have. With the cell tower servers doing part of the processing, it can be accomplished faster than the phone doing it all like a regular GPS unit does. From what I understand, if a cell phone is "A-GPS" only and not "A-GPS/GPS" then it can not get a location without a connection to the cell network.

When I was in Paris, I found that I was able to get a get location on BlackBerry Storm, faster than on my Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx. In some cases I was never able to get a signal on my Garmin at all. At home in the suburbs, the results are exactly the opposite. I attribute this to the fact that in Paris, there is obviously a much higher density of towers than here in cow and corn land. The GPS sat signals are also obviously going to be better in the country than in a heavy urban area too.

SEATTLE, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Groundspeak, Inc., the creator ofGeocaching.com, introduced a free Geocaching Intro application to Apple'siTunes Store this week. The Geocaching Intro is the second iPhone Applicationintroduced by Groundspeak, which also offers a premium Geocaching applicationfor $9.99. Groundspeak's premium Geocaching application has been a top-tenapplication within the paid navigation category of the iTunes app store sinceits launch in November of 2008.

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world byadventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. iPhone and iPod Touch owners canuse Groundspeak's iPhone applications and their device's Wi-Fi and/or GPScapabilities to participate in geocaching. The basic idea is to locate hiddenoutdoor containers, called geocaches, and then share your experiences online.

Groundspeak's Geocaching Intro application walks users through their first fewgeocaching experiences and provides instruction on how to participate.

-- Navigate to geocaches with a simulated compass arrow or directly from the map screen

According to Jeremy Irish, CEO of Groundspeak, "The Geocaching Introapplication is a free and simple way to experience geocaching for the firsttime. Participants can learn the basics of the activity and those looking toget more involved can upgrade to the premium Geocaching application, which hasthe full range of features needed for geocaching."

Groundspeak, a Seattle-based company, has been in the business oflocation-based adventures since 2000. It is Groundspeak's mission to inspireglobal play using location-based technology. Groundspeak currently owns andoperates Geocaching.com, Waymarking.com and Wherigo.com.

We finally got to test out the iphone last Friday morning. Took our GPSMAP60CX with it. Biggest difference is the distance-to-cache doesn't work nearly as fast. With the 60CX, if you're heading straight at the cache, ours usually drops the distance in 8-10 foot increments. Maybe only a second between distance updates. With the iphone, I had to stop and wait for it to catch up every so often. Not quite sure about time elapsed between distance-to-cache updates, somewhere like 5-10 seconds. Seemed stuck at one point on being 48 ft away. Went to 60CX to find cache. After logging, checked iphone, had me at 4 feet. That was just a quick cemetery hit on the way to work, so a few more tests will be required before giving it a grade. However, sure was nice being able to look at the cache page & log find from the field!